BOOM!  Car won't go: Axle CV joint

Cruising at 30 MPH

in a straight line after a 550 mile weekend and Boom!  Startled me.

I thought I ran over something.  Now the car won't accelerate.

So I coasted into a parking spot and walked the 1.4 miles home.

Symptoms:

All gears engaged but car didn't move.

RPM increased but speed was 0.

Slight "whirring" noise when placed in third gear, more noise in reverse.

Selecting first or second gear and releasing the clutch was silent.

Depressing the diff button didn't help.

We cable towed the car home for simplicity and

the sun was out I peered underneath and this is what I saw:

That's the axel flange resting on the exhaust pipe.

Here's a flashed photo for clarity. Peering underneath from the drivers door area.

Here's the view from under the front of the car

Clean off the transaxle flange.  6 "Triple square" bolts hold this on.  Not on, no go.

Here's the passengers' side for a comparison:

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Update 03 / 18 / 2005

I was forced into using the car since all the others stopped working.

I was able to hold the axel up by hand and finger in 5 of the 6 bolts.

In order to get the half shaft (axle) to line up I had to push the end up

over the flange, (12 o'clock) so it would fall back down

into place and line up the bolt holes by twisting the half shaft.

Here's the little triple square bolt that holds the half shaft onto the transmission flange.

Some of them, when they let loose, had their threads damaged:

This one was the easiest and only one I was able to rethread with this tool.

Lay the bolt in the valley of the tool.

Align the points of the cutter edge in the bolt thread grooves

Apply pressure to the top of the tool by the screw, twist the bolt through the cutters.

Here's the finished product above, this lower bolt was too hard to rethread.

So I decided to order new fasteners as they were $4 each at the Dealership.

However, the new buggers were a socket size bigger than the old ones!

The part (#37) number is below.  The ENTIRE assembly is #30.

N 900 972 - 02

Good thing I bought a set for the Triple square / 12 point.

So far 2004 - 2005 has been Bostons' 4th snowiest winter,

 here the car napped most of the winter.

04/05/2005 Update. One of the five I put in backed out.  So torque them all!

The one backed out was hard to reach with the car on jack stands only.

Hope this helps visually, -Scott by BOSTON

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